Voting Station

Mary Blair

Please vote to return to collections.

Artist

The Resume

    (October 21, 1911-July 26, 1978)
    Born in McAlester, Oklahoma
    Birth name was Mary Robinson
    Married artist Lee Everett Blair in 1934
    Sister-in-law of animator Preston Blair
    Trained at the Chouinard Art Institute of Los Angeles during the Great Depression
    Produced art/animation for The Walt Disney Company
    Drew concept art for the Disney films 'Saludos Amigos,' 'Three Caballeros,' 'Cinderella,' 'Alice in Wonderland,' 'Peter Pan,' 'Song of the South,' 'Melody Time,' and 'Make Mine Music'
    Responsible for the character designs for Disneyland's It's a Small World, El Rio del Tiempo, Epcot's World Showcase, and Disney's Contemporary Resort
    Author of the popular children's book, 'I Can Fly'

Why she might be annoying:

    She designed Hallmark cards.
    She was initially unhappy working for Disney due to her lacking of the creative control she had become accustomed to.
    She was handpicked by Walt Disney to design concept art for 'Cinderella' so that it wouldn't resemble 'Snow White.'
    She came out with drawings that were described as being done in 'greeting-card fashion.' The majority of the production staff rebelled against this stylistic approach.
    Her profile as a Disney artist obscured the fact that she largely worked on Post-WWII package films (her work was featured on only three full-length animated feature films).
    She did concept art for 'Song of the South,' which the NAACP successfully banned due to its negative depiction of African-Americans.
    She resigned from Disney after doing 'Peter Pan' to do ad campaigns for Nabisco and Maxwell House Coffee.
    She posed in a sultry-looking off-the-shoulders blouse which later inspired kinky internet fan-art.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was one of Walt Disney’s favorite artists.
    She illustrated several of the popular Little Golden Books.
    She is credited with introducing modernist art styles to the Walt Disney Company's animation team.
    She toured South America, along with her husband, Walt Disney and his wife Lillian, as part of a research team in the early 1940s (the trip vastly influenced her style).
    She posthumously received the Windsor McCay Award from ASIFA-Hollywood in 1996.
    Her career with Disney was habitually interrupted by her husband's military service.
    She did work as a writer for and was also featured in a segment of) Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
    She was the rare case of a woman who made traction in the male-dominated Walt Disney Company, who rarely hired female animators.
    When Disney began work on his 'It's a Small World' attraction, he decided that the drawings of the ride's dolls lacked a certain charm, and he personally brought Blair back to the company to redesign them with her characteristic flair (one of the dolls on the ride bears her likeness as a tribute to her work).
    She was paid homage with a Google Doodle for what would have been her 100th Birthday (it is widely believed that her artwork inspired the general design of the Google Doodles as a whole).

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 17 Votes: 52.94% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 19 Votes: 68.42% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 12 Votes: 16.67% Annoying